University of Windsor Scholarship at UWindsor Electronic Theses and Dissertations Theses, Dissertations, and Major Papers 2016 Fluid Compartmentalization of Devonian and Mississippian Dolostones, Western Canada Sedimentary Basin: Evidence from Fracture Mineralization Carole Mrad University of Windsor Follow this and additional works at: https://scholar.uwindsor.ca/etd Recommended Citation Mrad, Carole, "Fluid Compartmentalization of Devonian and Mississippian Dolostones, Western Canada Sedimentary Basin: Evidence from Fracture Mineralization" (2016). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 5752. https://scholar.uwindsor.ca/etd/5752 This online database contains the full-text of PhD dissertations and Masters’ theses of University of Windsor students from 1954 forward. These documents are made available for personal study and research purposes only, in accordance with the Canadian Copyright Act and the Creative Commons license—CC BY-NC-ND (Attribution, Non-Commercial, No Derivative Works). 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Fluid Compartmentalization of Devonian and Mississippian Dolostones, Western Canada Sedimentary Basin: Evidence from Fracture Mineralization By Carole Mrad A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies through the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science at the University of Windsor Windsor, Ontario, Canada © 2016 Carole Mrad Fluid Compartmentalization of Devonian and Mississippian Dolostones, Western Canada Sedimentary Basin; Evidence from Fracture Mineralization by Carole Mrad APPROVED BY: __________________________________________________ Dr. Jan Ciborowski, External Examiner Department of Biological Sciences __________________________________________________ Dr. Jianwen Yang, Internal Examiner Department of Earth and Enviironmental Sciences __________________________________________________ Dr. Ihsan Al-Aasm Department of Earth and Enviironmental Sciences May 27, 2016 Author’s Declaration of Originality I hereby certify that I am the sole author of this thesis and that no part of this thesis has been published or submitted for publication. I certify that, to the best of my knowledge, my thesis does not infringe upon anyone’s copyright nor violate any proprietary rights and that any ideas, techniques, quotations, or any other material from the work of other people included in my thesis, published or otherwise, are fully acknowledged in accordance with the standard referencing practices. Furthermore, to the extent that I have included copyrighted material that surpasses the bounds of fair dealing within the meaning of the Canada Copyright Act, I certify that I have obtained a written permission from the copyright owner(s) to include such material(s) in my thesis and have included copies of such copyright clearances to my appendix. I declare that this is a true copy of my thesis, including any final revisions, as approved by my thesis committee and the Graduate Studies office, and that this thesis has not been submitted for a higher degree to any other University or Institution. iii Abstract Integrated petrographic, geochemical and fluid inclusion study of fracture mineralization in Mississippian and Devonian dolostones extending from Alberta to British Columbia, Canada aims at quantifying the type and nature of fluids that precipitated diagenetic minerals and whether these fluids represent a single or multiple events. Fracture-filling saddle dolomite and calcite from three Devonian and two Mississippian carbonate successions were investigated in this study. The Devonian formations include Slave Point and Duvernay formations and the Mississippian Upper Debolt and Turner Valley formations. Isotopic evidence from dolomite cement indicate the presence of a hydrothermal fluid source. The Mississippian saddle dolomite is characterized by less depleted δ18O isotopic values, less radiogenic 87Sr/86Sr isotopic ratios and lower homogenization temperatures and salinity values of fluid inclusions compared to the Devonian saddle dolomite. These results suggest that possibly two hydrothermal pulses related to early (Antler) and late (Laramide) tectonic events affected the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin. iv Dedication This thesis is dedicated to my aunts, Hana and May Bader, and my uncle, Dr. Eyad Meibar. Without their infinite support, encouragement and love I would not be where I am today. v Acknowledgements I would like to sincerely thank my supervisor Dr. Ihsan Al-Aasm for his constructive advice, guidance and continuous support during the past two years. I appreciate the useful suggestions and feedback given by my thesis readers Dr. Jianwen Yang and Dr. Jan Ciborowski during the research proposal and thesis defense. I would like to thank Ms. Carina Luo at the Leddy library for her help with the ArcGIS spatial variability maps. I am also thankful to all the faculty members and staff at the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Windsor, especially to Dr. Ali Polat, Dr. Iain Samson, Dr. Joel Gagnon, Melissa Price, Margaret Mayer, Dr. Alice Grgicak-Mannion, Dr. Denis Tetreault and Dr. Maria Cioppa. I would like to thank my graduate peers as well for their support and wish them the best in their research areas and career. Finally, I would like to thank my parents for their encouragement and support throughout my academic years. vi Table of Contents Author’s Declaration of Originality ......................................................................................................... iii Abstract ....................................................................................................................................................... iv Dedication..................................................................................................................................................... v Acknowledgements .................................................................................................................................... vi List of Figures ............................................................................................................................................. ix List of Tables .............................................................................................................................................xiii Chapter 1 ..................................................................................................................................................... 1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................................. 1 1.1 Purpose of Study: .............................................................................................................................. 2 2.2 Previous Studies ................................................................................................................................ 3 Chapter 2 ................................................................................................................................................... 11 Geologic and Tectonic Setting .................................................................................................................. 11 Chapter 3 ................................................................................................................................................... 17 Materials and Methods ............................................................................................................................. 17 3.1 Petrography ..................................................................................................................................... 17 3.2 Stable Isotope Analysis ................................................................................................................... 18 3.3 Strontium Isotope Analysis ............................................................................................................ 18 3.4 Fluid Inclusion Studies ................................................................................................................... 19 3.5 Spatial Variability Maps ................................................................................................................ 20 Chapter 4 ................................................................................................................................................... 21 Results ........................................................................................................................................................ 21 4.1 Petrography of the Devonian Formations .................................................................................... 21 4.1.1 Compaction ............................................................................................................................... 22 4.1.2 Fracturing ................................................................................................................................. 23 4.1.3 Calcite